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Written Question
Household Support Fund
Tuesday 12th December 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of ending the Household Support Fund on (a) local authorities and (b) people accessing local authority services.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Since October 2021, Government has provided over £2 billion to local authorities in England via the Household Support Fund (HSF) for them to provide discretionary support with the cost of essentials to those most in need. As with all government spending in England, the HSF has led to consequential increases in Barnett funding, which the Devolved Administrations can spend at their discretion. The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024.

No such assessment has been made of the potential impact of the ending of the Household Support Fund on local authorities and people accessing local authority services. The government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children of compulsory school age live in households in receipt of Universal Credit with a household income after tax and before benefits of less than (a) £7,400, (b) £9,075 and (c) £9,390 a year in each region of England.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet, subject to the caveats set out in the attached.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children of compulsory school age live in households in receipt of Universal Credit with a household income after tax and before benefits of less than (a) £7,400, (b) £9,075 and (c) £9,390 a year in England.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet, subject to the caveats set out in the attached.


Written Question
Housing Benefit
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of Housing Benefit.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The level of housing support is reviewed annually through assessing the Local Housing Allowance rates and by monitoring housing welfare policy.

For those who need additional support to meet their housing costs, the Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living.

In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. The first payment is due to be paid to eligible households from tomorrow (25th May). A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.


Written Question
Parental Pay
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were in receipt of (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Statutory Paternity Pay, (c) Statutory Adoption Pay and (d) Statutory Shared Parental Pay in the 2022-23 financial year.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information provided by employers to HMRC show the number of individuals in receipt of Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SShPP). This data provides a broad indication of take-up but does not include anyone taking unpaid leave. Data for the 2022-23 financial year is incomplete, and we therefore provide data for the 2021-22 financial year.

Table 1: Individuals in receipt of SMP, SPP, SAP, SShPP in 2021/22 (the latest year for which full year data is available)

No. of individuals in receipt of parental pay in 2021/22

Statutory Maternity Pay

636,000

Statutory Paternity Pay

204,200

Statutory Adoption Pay

4,600

Statutory Shared Parental Pay

13,000

Notes

  1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
  1. Figures are based on the total number of individuals in a given year, irrespective of when the payment first started.

Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Epilepsy
Thursday 9th March 2023

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the accuracy of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment process for people with epilepsy; and how many and what proportion of people with epilepsy successfully appealed an initial assessment for PIP in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

No such assessment has been made.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise from needs related to a long-term health condition or disability. Entitlement is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from the health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself.

Decisions are made following consideration of all of the information provided by the claimant, including supporting evidence from their GP or medical specialist, together with an assessment report from a healthcare professional.

For decisions made up to 30th June 2022, where claimants had one of the conditions within the 'Epilepsy' subgroup recorded as their primary condition, there were 9,500 successful appeals, 11% of initial decisions relating to epilepsy.

Please note:

  • Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and percentages to the nearest percent;
  • Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple conditions upon which the decision is based, but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics;
  • The ‘epilepsy’ subgroup contains conditions such as cataplexy, generalised seizures and narcolepsy;”
  • We have provided data for England and Wales (excluding Scotland) in line with the latest published figures on PIP;
  • These figures include initial decisions following assessment for PIP (New Claims and Reassessments) from April 2013 up to 30th June 2022, the latest date for which published data is available;
  • These figures include appeal outcomes up to 30th September 2022, the latest date for which published data is available. Note that more appeals could be made and completed after September 2022, so numbers may change as it can take some time for an appeal to be lodged and then cleared after the initial decision;
  • Successful appeals have been defined as those overturned at tribunal and those lapsed by the DWP;
  • A lapsed appeal is where the DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing; and
  • The appeal figures will include some decisions which are changed at a mandatory reconsideration, where the claimant continues to appeal for a higher PIP award, which are then changed again at appeal.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Standards
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service in ensuring that parents receive the money they are owed.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMG compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours.

The UK went into its first lockdown on the 23rd March 2020, its second on the 5th November 2020 and its third on the 6th January 2021. The Child Maintenance Service was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant changes to the Department’s operational priorities and staffing resources. CMS have worked in partnership with Courts and Enforcement Agents following the restrictions on Enforcement activity during this period to quickly return to normal operating practice and pursue non-compliant parents.

Total child maintenance collected using Enforcement Actions amounted to £35.9 million in the quarter to June 2022 compared with £33.9 in June 2021 and £31.2 in June 2020. This rise in collections is linked directly to increased collections through Deductions from Earnings Orders, lump sum and regular deductions taken directly from paying parents’ bank accounts, Liability Order and Bailiff actions and making full use of all available sanctions.

(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 7.1 ‘Enforcement Actions’, April 2015 to June 2022).

As a result of a focussed effort to increase enforcement activity £48.8 million was paid through the Collect & Pay service in the quarter to June 2022 compared to the quarter ending December 2019 where £44.1 million was paid before the impact of the pandemic took effect.

(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables – table 5 ‘Money Due and Paid each quarter’ January 2015 to June 2022).

There has been a consistent downward trend in the proportion of unpaid maintenance as a proportion of maintenance arranged since 2017, falling from 12.5% in 2017 to 8.25% in June 2022.

(Source – Child Maintenance Service published Statistics : National Tables - table 6 ‘ how much maintenance CMS has arranged March 2015 to June 2022).


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what powers the Child Maintenance Service has to (a) enforce or (b) sanction parents in the event that a parent refuses to pay money that they owe.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Group has the following powers which can be applied, immediately, if payment compliance cannot be re-established and are subject to fixed charges:

  • Deduction of Earnings Order (£50.00 charge);
  • Deduction from Earnings Request (£50.00 charge).

If the paying parent is self-employed or not employed, we can apply:

  • Regular Deduction Order ( £50.00 charge);
  • Lump Sum Deduction Order (£200.00 charge).

If a bank account is not identified or there are no, or insufficient, funds available to permit any deduction order, the case will be referred for consideration and instigation of legal enforcement action to secure what is owed. The following enforcement powers available are:

  • Lump sum deduction order;
  • Regular deduction order;
  • Freezing order;
  • Set aside disposition order;
  • Liability order £300 charge;
  • Registering liability order at county court (England and Wales);
  • Registering liability with the Register of Judgements, Orders and Fines;
  • Registering liability with the Enforcement of Judgments Office (Northern Ireland);
  • Charging order (England and Wales);
  • Order for sale;
  • Enforcement agent action (England and Wales);
  • Third party debt order (England and Wales);
  • Disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving license;
  • Commitment to prison;
  • Disqualification from holding or obtaining a passport (England and Wales only).

We always strive to achieve long term payment compliance and throughout the enforcement process, the case will continuously be reviewed to determine whether previously unsuccessful action may now be successful.

The Child Maintenance Group regularly reviews enforcement procedures and policies to continuously improve efficiency and effectiveness. Legislation and policy are similarly reviewed with policy colleagues to consider whether other actions should be introduced.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to abolish the four per cent collection fee charged to parents receiving regular payments through the Child Maintenance Service.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are no plans to abolish the 4% collection charge for receiving parents. This charge only applies to the Collect and Pay service and is intended to provide a parent with an incentive to use the Direct Pay service which has no ongoing fees.

The collection charge for the receiving parent is deducted only when maintenance is paid, with no money owed to the Child Maintenance Service if maintenance is not paid. These charges contribute to the cost of running an expensive service, which remains subsidised by the taxpayer.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Children
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2022 to Question 69809 on Universal Credit: Children, how many children of compulsory school age lived in households in receipt of Universal Credit with a household income after tax and before benefits of less than (a) £7,400, (b) £8,350 and (c) £8,575 a year in each region of England in May 2022.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The requested information is provided in the attached spreadsheet.